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Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 9, NUMBER 4, APRIL 1996

PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS...
VOLCANIC IMPACTS ON TEMPERATURE

Item #d96apr23

"Volcanic Eruptions and Global Temperatures," R.D. Thompson (Dept. Geog. Univ. of Reading, Whiteknights, POB 227, Reading, RG6 2AB, UK), Ambio, 24(5), 320-321, Aug. 1995.

A synopsis of existing literature on the topic, including how volcanic eruptions are likely to be a confounding factor in detecting greenhouse warming.

Item #d96apr24

"Tree Ring Evidence of the Widespread Effects of Explosive Volcanic Eruptions," P.D. Jones (Clim. Res. Unit, Univ. E. Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK), K.R. Briffa, F.H. Schweingruber, Geophys. Res. Lett., 22(11), 1333-1336, June 1, 1995.

Tree-ring evidence from 97 sites over North America and Europe is used to develop a chronology of widespread cool summers since 1600, and to develop an index which correlates well with known volcanic eruptions. The index shows great potential for quantifying the climatic impact and perhaps establishing precise calendar dates of large explosive eruptions.

Item #d96apr25

"The Volcanic Signal in Surface Temperature Observations," A. Robock (Dept. Meteor., Univ. Maryland, College Pk. MD 20742), J. Mao, J. Clim., 8(5, Pt. 1), 1086-1103, May 1995.

Surface temperature records of the past 140 years show that for two years following major volcanic eruptions, the surface cools by 0.1° - 0.2° C in the global mean, in each hemisphere. However, in the first winter after major tropical eruptions and in the second winter after major high-latitude eruptions, North America and Eurasia warm by several degrees, while northern Africa and southwestern Asia cool by more than 0.5° C. Also discusses signals from ENSO events that have coincided with volcanic eruptions.